Livelihood options and agricultural development impact on household food security in Rwanda

A conference paper presentation in IPAR's Annual research conference 201

“Land Tenure Problems and the Rural Youth of Rwanda” The Case of the District of Kamonyi

Student Number: 0514015W - MA research report - School of Social Sciences - Faculty of HumanitiesThis study aimed to investigate land tenure problems experienced by the youth of the rural areas of Rwanda. The study targeted the young men and women who have experienced several land problems in terms of land access and ownership, in the district of Kamonyi. The youth’s land tenure problems, their nature, their causes and their effects on youth’s lives were collected and analysed. The study also aimed to analyse the National Land Policy document of 2004 by looking at three aspects namely the land redistribution, group settlement, and the participation of other different government departments, civil society and youth in particular in the policy process in order to see how it deals with land tenure problems facing the rural youth. In order to collect and analyse data, this study used a qualitative method. The use of this method was motivated by its quality of providing information that one can not get with a questionnaire. Moreover, the qualitative method enables to collect and analyse in-depth information on a smaller group of respondents and enables the researcher to participate in data collection. Documentary analysis, observation, in-depth interviews and the focus group discussion were the techniques used to gather data. The study population was made of 20 young people who have experienced the land problems and 10 key informants. The concept of participation, the human needs, and the resource scarcity and conflict theories framed this work. Participation means that all the beneficiaries of a project must be involved in the decision-making, implementation and control process of the programme. As the concept of participation highlights that, problems of poverty among people, specifically young people, are solved when they are involved in planning and implementation of projects that affect their lives, the same concept was used in the current study to investigate whether rural young people have been involved in the land reform process. Youth participation should be taken into account for achieving positive development. When youth are involved in decision-making, they experience social justice as full citizens and their problems are quickly solved. Participation should be achieved from below whereby all members of the community participate in the decision-making on the projects that affect their lives. In other words, developmental projects must take into account the needs and views of beneficiaries and the latter must be empowered in order to achieve effective results. Many development policies fail in Africa and in Rwanda due to the lack of involving beneficiaries or taking into account their views. In addition, the natural resources must be equally shared by all the citizens without any social inequality, in order to avoid intractable-conflicts. People’s basic needs should be met because where some basic needs such as water, land, education, healthcare, shelter are not given, conflicts arise. Where resources are not sufficient to fit with all people in need, the properties’ ownership should be collective rather than individual. The key findings of the study show that the ways of land access and ownership in Kamonyi are mainly, land acquisition through inheritance, through land purchase through land gifted, and through land allocation by the government. Youth experience mainly the problem of landlessness due to the family land scarcity, inequalities between the elites and the poor in terms of land ownership, the increasing number of heirs since women have been included among heirs, the problem of polygamy and the lack of a known father. Many households have no title-deeds, some male children and their fathers become reluctant to recognise women’s inheritance rights, conflicts around land boundaries between neighbours and conflicts between children and their parents due to the lack of inheritance become endless. The national Land Policy of 2004 that intends to solve all the above land tenure problems bears contradictions related to its aim of achieving equity and equality and productivity at the same time. While the policy intends to establish a land tenure system that guarantees tenure security for all Rwandans, it also states that not every Rwandan will possess a plot of land of his own. In addition, it states that former refugees, professionals pastoralists and farmers, and those who will be able to apply for land showing interest in land development will be given land through the redistribution programme, which means that those who are not able to make a consistent application for land or do not belong to former refugees families will not acquire land. In addition the policy process has not been participative at large; rather it has been limited in the hands of elites, rural dwellers especially youth have not been consulted while they are familiar with land related problems. The group settlement is a good alternative but it bears ambiguity because it is silent on the youth’s lives and on who is accountable to build houses in villages

Analyse de l’étendue des privilèges et immunités diplomatiques

La restriction de liberté de voyager d’un pays à l’autre pour les hautes autorités des Etats à cause de la pandémie de Covid-19 a diminué les échanges relationnels entre les Etats d’une part, et d’autre part a beaucoup ravivé les activités des diplomates qui deviennent intense et incontournable pendant ces moments où les pays se ferment sur eux-mêmes. Les pays du monde entier mènent des relations internationales au moyen de la diplomatie. Ils envoient des agents dans des missions diplomatiques pour bien accomplir leur tâche. Pour mener bien leur mission, ils ont besoin d’un environnement favorable que leur offre le pays d’accréditation. Cette réalité se définit en termes de privilèges et immunités diplomatiques. La question de la pratique s’impose dans cette réflexion de manière suivante : la pratique de ces privilèges et immunités est-elle absolue? C’est dans ce contexte que s’inscrit cette étude qui vise à analyser les fondements des privilèges et immunités octroyés au corps diplomatique par la convention de Vienne de 1961 et leur mis en application au quotidien. Cette réflexion a démontré qu’il existe des limites liées à la pratique des privilèges et immunités. Pour y parvenir, une méthode documentaire est privilégiée. La recherche documentaire choisie pour cette étude a permis d’exploiter les livres, les articles, les rapports ainsi que divers documents disponibles sur Internet pour y tirer des informations nécessaires relatives à ce sujet. Cette étude a terminé sa réflexion par une conclusion qui dégage des approches de solutions pour les limites identifiées. The restriction of the movement of the authorities of different countries due to the Covid-19 pandemic has both reduced the relationships between these States and has revived the activities of diplomats which become intense and unavoidable during these times since countries are being confined. While many Countries conduct international diplomatic relations, they send agents to diplomatic missions to achieve their targets. In order to carry out their mission successfully, they need a favorable environment offered by their receiving countries. This reality is defined in terms of diplomatic privileges and immunities. The question of practice arises in this reflection as follows: Is the practice of these privileges and immunities totally absolute? Therefore, it is in this context that this study takes place and it is meant to analyze the foundations of the privileges and immunities which are granted to the diplomatic corps in accordance with the 1961 Vienna Convention. This reflection has shown that there are limits linked to the practice of privileges and immunities. To achieve this, a documentary method is preferred. The documentary research chosen for this study made it possible to use the books, articles, reports and various documents available on the Internet to extract the necessary information on this subject. This study ended its reflection with a conclusion which proposed the approaches of possible solutions towards the identified limitations

Sexual violence as a weapon of war, ensuring effective redress for victims in post-conflict situations

Previously held under moratorium from 1st December 2016 until 1st December 2021.All too often in situations of armed conflicts, rape and other acts of sexual violence are used as a military tactic. The use of sexual violence as an element of war strategies is distinctively destructive, and not only leaves victims with significant challenges to cope with their victimisation but also tears apart the fabric of families and affected communities. Challenges facing victims in post-conflict settings are often compounded by the socio-cultural contexts in which such crimes are committed. In fact, the dynamics of conflict-related sexual violence are often highly entrenched within local contexts, making these crimes not only an effective weapon for destroying the lives of individual victims but also add a new component to the social disruption, and exacerbate the devastating impact of armed conflicts on affected communities. This research contributes to the current debate on mechanisms to ensure effective redress for victims of sexual violence as a weapon of war. It adds to the growing literature on the issue in two ways: First, it explores the distinct aspects of these crimes to understand the nature and extent of the needs of the victims in post-conflict settings. Second,it examines the challenges and limitations of international criminal justice in dealing with a wide range of the victims’ needs, and provides critical insight into how such limitations can be addressed through domestic transitional justice processes. This study demonstrates that, despite recent developments in international criminal justice with respect to victims, the international criminal justice system is faced with significant limitations in its effort of providing justice and redress to victims of sexual violence as a military tactic, requiring alternative transitional justice processes to complement it domestically. It argues that effective redress for victims of sexual violence as a weapon of war demands more than addressing the victims’ justice and reparative needs but also to attend to the complex social dimensions of these crimes. The study, therefore, further explores the strengths and weaknesses of an increasing range of domestic transitional justice approaches to accountability and reconciliation and demonstrates their potential in advancing effective redress for victims of such crimes. The thesis advances an argument that, considering the nature and patterns of sexual violence as a weapon of war, a full range of transitional justice processes must be considered to address the dynamics and complex impact of these crimes on victims and affected communities. The pursuit of redress must include an element of societal change to empower victims and breakdown a myriad of social impacts on them after conflicts. This study is a significant contribution toward understanding of a holistic response to the needs of victims and societies torn apart by mass sexual violence as a weapon of war.All too often in situations of armed conflicts, rape and other acts of sexual violence are used as a military tactic. The use of sexual violence as an element of war strategies is distinctively destructive, and not only leaves victims with significant challenges to cope with their victimisation but also tears apart the fabric of families and affected communities. Challenges facing victims in post-conflict settings are often compounded by the socio-cultural contexts in which such crimes are committed. In fact, the dynamics of conflict-related sexual violence are often highly entrenched within local contexts, making these crimes not only an effective weapon for destroying the lives of individual victims but also add a new component to the social disruption, and exacerbate the devastating impact of armed conflicts on affected communities. This research contributes to the current debate on mechanisms to ensure effective redress for victims of sexual violence as a weapon of war. It adds to the growing literature on the issue in two ways: First, it explores the distinct aspects of these crimes to understand the nature and extent of the needs of the victims in post-conflict settings. Second,it examines the challenges and limitations of international criminal justice in dealing with a wide range of the victims’ needs, and provides critical insight into how such limitations can be addressed through domestic transitional justice processes. This study demonstrates that, despite recent developments in international criminal justice with respect to victims, the international criminal justice system is faced with significant limitations in its effort of providing justice and redress to victims of sexual violence as a military tactic, requiring alternative transitional justice processes to complement it domestically. It argues that effective redress for victims of sexual violence as a weapon of war demands more than addressing the victims’ justice and reparative needs but also to attend to the complex social dimensions of these crimes. The study, therefore, further explores the strengths and weaknesses of an increasing range of domestic transitional justice approaches to accountability and reconciliation and demonstrates their potential in advancing effective redress for victims of such crimes. The thesis advances an argument that, considering the nature and patterns of sexual violence as a weapon of war, a full range of transitional justice processes must be considered to address the dynamics and complex impact of these crimes on victims and affected communities. The pursuit of redress must include an element of societal change to empower victims and breakdown a myriad of social impacts on them after conflicts. This study is a significant contribution toward understanding of a holistic response to the needs of victims and societies torn apart by mass sexual violence as a weapon of war

Combining the goals of conservation, tourism and livelihoods in the management of protected areas

The liberal conservation agenda promotes the incorporation of human needs into the management of Protected Areas (PAs). Across the globe, nature-based tourism has been among the suggested tools of promoting sustainable conservation together with development of the local communities living around the PAs. This exploratory study was conducted to contribute to improved management practices of PAs by using the Volcanoes National Park (VNP) in Northern Rwanda as a case study to explore whether the tourism practices there can help to achieve the reconciliation between conservation and the local people’s livelihoods goals. The study has the main objective of understanding the benefits and constraints of combining the goals of conservation, tourism and livelihoods by using the VNP as a Case Study. The study has adopted a qualitative approach and was based on interviews and literature review as methods of data collection. The study has been conducted during the global pandemic (COVID-19), therefore, phone interviews were used to interview 14 participants in relation to the VNP management, from three different categories of ecotourism stakeholders. The categories are: (1) the government and/or VNP management staff as the Director of VNP; (2) Conservation NGOs like the top management staff of the Diana Fossey Gorilla Fund International and the conservation workers like the Mountain Gorilla Trackers; (3) the local community which, in turn, is also divided into four subcategories: (a) the local institution representatives like the village leader; (b) members of different Community-Based Organisation (CBO) or cooperatives; (c) local people employed by ecotourism projects; and (d) ordinary villagers or farmers. The data collected were transcribed, translated and analysed qualitatively. The results of this study showed that the combination of the goals of conservation, tourism and livelihoods is difficult to achieve to a practice in the context of VNP. The goals of tourism and conservation have been achieved to a higher degree, in comparison to those of the local community’s livelihoods. The study suggests that the mixed success of the linkage is based on the fact that the tourism attraction (VNP) is owned and run by the government which considers the tourism industry as its number one foreign currency earner. Though the major benefits of the linkage between tourism, conservation and livelihood are mostly macro-economic growth, different initiatives of conservation NGOs and the Tourism Revenue Sharing scheme have brought some positive changes in both conservation of the park and the local community’s livelihood diversification. This study, however, shed more light on the challenges such as lack of capacity and power for the local community which in turn limit them from effectively participating in different ecotourism processes such as elaboration and implementation of the management and conservation policies; collection and investment of tourism revenues, etc. The current top-down approach of managing the VNP makes the future of the park conservation uncertain. The study showed that, even though the number of cases is decreasing, illegal activities in the park still exist, the community still depend on the park for basic needs, due to lack of infrastructures like water and electricity. Therefore, the study suggests a shift from a top-down approach to decentralised natural resources management. The decentralisation is believed to empower the local community so that they will be able to manage and use the resources from the park. As a result, the existing benefit leakage among the ecotourism stakeholders could be decreased as well

Spatial and temporal variations in the microbiomes of different soil zones around clonal pedunculate oak trees (Quercus robur L.) out-planted as phytometers across grasslands in Europe

Soils harbor a huge diversity of microorganisms, which are dominated by bacteria and fungi. These soil microorganisms, collectively termed as the soil microbiome, are major contributors to soil biodiversity and play essential roles in soil functions (e.g. soil fertility and plant nutrition, organic matter degradation and nutrient cycling, and soil formation). Therefore, many studies in recent decades have explored soil microbial diversity in order to unravel driving forces of its variations. Hence, this thesis reports on spatial and temporal variations of the soil microbiome in response to site specificities, i.e. local climate as well as soil physico-chemistry, and host tree parameters. To avoid effects of intraspecific genetic variations, the pedunculate oak clone DF159 (Quercus robur L.) generated by the project TrophinOak-PhytOakmeter of the Soil Ecology Department at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) was used as phytometer system. In the PhytOakmeter project of which this thesis is a part, saplings regenerated from microcuttings of DF159 were out-planted in grassland, forest and urban field sites in Central Germany and along a European North-South transect. The overall goal of the project is to analyze how the clone adapts to and performs under different regional climatic contexts and changing environment conditions. Pedunculate oak was chosen as a model tree species because it is engaged in highly complex and diverse multitrophic interactions, including soil microorganisms. Q. robur displays an endogenous rhythmic growth with alternating growing flushes in shoot and root, which can be repeated two to four times along a vegetation period. These alternating flushes have been shown to impact on variations of biological activities in soil zones close to the tree roots. Based on the above-described background, the current PhD study investigated changes in the soil microbial communities associated to the pedunculate oak phytometer outplanted in grassland sites at two different spatial scales: (1) the local scale by comparing the soil microbiomes associated to the phytometer in sites located within a close geographic space of Central Germany with similar climatic conditions; and (2) continental scale by making a similar comparison among sites along a European North-South transect, which encompasses a wide range of climatic and soil physico-chemical conditions. Moreover, temporal scale was considered, whereby the variability of the microbiomes intra-annually along a vegetation period was analyzed. Soil samples were taken not only in the tree root zone (RZ), i.e. soil zone containing living roots of the tree, but also in the tree root-free zone (RFZ), i.e. soil zone out of reach of any tree roots, but within the same field plot, to access also the local microbial pools. The analyses used a PCR-based Illumina MiSeq amplicon sequencing approach targeting bacteria and fungi, to assess their diversity, community structure and functionality after assignment of their OTUs to functional groups. In addition to Chapter 1, which introduces the whole work of this PhD research, the findings are presented within Chapters 2-4, of which two studies were already published in international peer-reviewed journals, while another study was published as a conference paper. The thesis is closed by the synopsis Chapter 5 that integrates discussion of all the publication chapters together with an outlook section. Chapter 2 “Tree root zone microbiome: exploring the magnitude of environmental conditions and host tree impact” published in Frontiers in Microbiology investigates the relative contribution of abiotic environmental and host tree parameters among four sites characterized by homogeneous climatic conditions in Central Germany, two years after the tree out-plant. We first compared at each field site the composition of the bacterial and fungal communities between the RZ of the oak clone, called PhytOakmeter in this chapter, and the tree RFZ. The chapter further evaluates the diversity and structure of the microbial communities within the tree RZ among the sites. The results revealed different microbial compositions between the tree RZ and RFZ, whereby the tree RZ-associated microbiome included numerous ectomycorrhizal fungi of the genera Hebeloma, Exophiala, Scleroderma, Tomentella, Trichophaea, and Tuber. This quick recruitment of specific beneficial microbial taxa from the local microbial pool seems to be among the tree strategies to acclimate to local site conditions. However, the overall tree contribution to shape soil microbial communities was lower than the impact of abiotic environmental parameters. The results revealed also a similar level of microbial diversity within the tree RZ among the sites for both the bacteria and fungi, an outcome attributed to the homogeneous climatic conditions within the sites and the common genetic identity of the host trees. In contrast, structure of the microbial communities was site-specific. Chapter 3 “Balance between geographic, soil, and host tree parameters to shape soil microbiomes associated to clonal oak varies across soil zones along a European North-South transect” published in Environmental Microbiology, also examines the relative impact of geographic, soil physico-chemical, and pedunculate oak clone parameters on the variability of the soil microbiome, but at a larger spatial scale from Lapinjärvi (Finland) to Bordeaux (Southwestern France), which is characterized by a broad range of geographic and soil physico-chemical conditions. In addition to the tree RFZ total microbiome and the tree RZ total microbiome, this chapter introduces a new sub-microbiome called tree RZ affine microbiome. The latter was defined as a subset of the RZ bacteria and fungi, significantly enriched in this zone compared to the tree RFZ. The results demonstrated an interplay among abiotic environmental and host tree parameters in shaping bacterial and fungal communities of the tree RZ along the European transect. These parameters showed a descending order of magnitude of their impact on the tree RZ total microbiome: geographic > soil physico-chemical > host tree parameters. However, for the variability of the RZ affine microbiome alone, the impact of the abiotic environmental parameters decreased, while the tree influence was strongly increased, particularly for fungi. Another important result was the highest proportion of the tree RZ affine microbial OTUs shared among all four sites, which was here designated as the tree “core” microbiome. These bacteria and fungi with significant affinity to the host tree, and shared by all the sites because of their ability to cope with diverging environmental conditions across the transect, may be playing a crucial role in supporting the wide distribution of Q. robur across Europe. Interestingly, we found no members of the RZ affine microbiome to be exclusive of only one particular site. Chapter 4 “Temporal changes and alternating host tree root and shoot growth affect soil microbiomes” published in Proceedings as conference paper after “The 1st International Electronic Conference on Microbiology”, considers a temporal scale, and here the variability of the tree RZ and RFZ total microbiomes was analyzed along a vegetation period in two sites of Central Germany. The soil was sampled at different time points coinciding with the tree alternating root and shoot growth, and the fall senescence that concludes the vegetation period. The results show a directional change over time along a vegetation period for the bacterial communities. However, the fungal communities did not show such temporal changes; they rather displayed a fine spatial scale partitioning closely linked to host plant individuals. In addition to the effect of temporal succession, deeper analyses of the generated data set will enable us to specify the impact of the alternating root and shoot growth characteristic of the tree endogenous rhythmic growth in the near future. These further analyses will include for example zooming in the tree RZ affine microbiome and in individual microbial functional groups. The results presented in this thesis evidence the quick impact of pedunculate oak tree clone on the soil microbiome within a two-year time span after the tree out-plant. Also, to different extents, geographic, soil physico-chemical, and host tree concurrently shape the soil bacterial and fungal communities. This thesis shows different spatial and temporal responses to the abiotic environmental and tree parameters between the soil bacterial and fungal communities. The use of tree clonal phytometer to study the tree-related parameters on soil microbiomes was proved to be a promising tool, to unravel the hierarchy of different abiotic and biotic factors in shaping the soil microbiome associated to long live trees. Finally, this work represents a first step toward establishing a long term monitoring of the dynamics of soil microbiomes associated to trees, as a strategy to unravel how these microorganisms participate to the long term acclimation of these long live plants to diverse and changing environments

A survey of the perceptions of the senior students on the achievement of the Jesuit educational ideals in two Jesuit secondary schools in Madagascar

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Dynamique de lutte contre la stigmatisation des femmes au Burundi

Cette réflexion avait pour objectif de démontrer la dynamique du cadre légal et règlementaire ainsi que le rôle de l'administration à la base dans la lutte contre la stigmatisation de la femme infertile. Pour asseoir ses démonstrations, l’étude utilise la méthodologie de la recherche documentaire. Celle-ci a permis de chercher et d’identifier les documents pertinents pour développer la thématique et extraire des informations permettant de répondre à l’objectif de l’étude. Cette méthodologie a servi aussi à l’exploitation du cadre légal national et des conventions et déclarations internationales traitant des questions relatives à la discrimination de la femme. Il ressort des analyses faites que le Burundi a manifesté sa volonté de combattre l'exclusion de la femme en souscrivant aux conventions internationales et en mettant en place un cadre national réglementaire et institutionnel y relatifs. Mais en dépit de l’existence de cet engagement, la stigmatisation de la femme infertile suit toujours son cours dans la culture burundaise. L’étude soutient que cette persistance de l’attitude méprisante qui dévalorise la personnalité de la femme victime et qui crée en elle le sentiment d’inutilité est due aux faiblesses du cadre légal qui traite la question incidemment. En se servant de l’examen de la réglementation et des organes mis en place par les pouvoirs publics pour veiller à la protection de la femme, cette réflexion démontre que l'administration à la base pourrait jouer un rôle fondamental pour accroitre la protection des femmes souffrant de la discrimination pour cause d’infertilité. Leurs interventions efficaces permettraient de réduire les barrières coutumières qui handicapent la dénonciation des cas de stigmatisation chez la femme infertile. C’est ainsi que l’étude suggère de créer des centres d’écoute et d’élargir le mandat des structures existantes au niveau communal pour y inclure la prise en charge des femmes victimes de stigmatisation. Pour accroitre l’efficacité des centres ainsi créés ou structures existantes, cette analyse propose de développer des mécanismes d’alerte reposant sur des indicateurs d’intervention préétablis.   This reflection aimed to demonstrate the dynamics of the legal and regulatory framework as well as the role of grassroots administration in the fight against the stigmatization of infertile women. To back up its demonstrations, the study uses the methodology of documentary research. This made it possible to search and identify relevant documents to develop the theme and extract information to meet the objective of the study. This methodology has also been used to exploit the national legal framework and international conventions and declarations dealing with issues relating to discrimination against women. The analyzes carried out show that Burundi has shown its willingness to combat the exclusion of women by subscribing to international conventions and by putting in place a national regulatory and institutional framework relating to it. But despite the existence of this commitment, the stigmatization of infertile women continues to run its course in Burundian culture. The study argues that this persistence of the contemptuous attitude which devalues the personality of the female victim and which creates in her the feeling of worthlessness is due to the weaknesses of the legal framework which deals with the issue incidentally. By using the review of the regulations and bodies set up by the public authorities to ensure the protection of women, this reflection demonstrates that the grassroots administration could play a fundamental role in increasing the protection of women. suffering from discrimination because of infertility. Their effective interventions would make it possible to reduce the customary barriers that handicap the denunciation of cases of stigmatization among infertile women. This is how the study suggests creating listening centers and broadening the mandate of existing structures at the municipal level to include care for women victims ofstigmatization. To increase the efficiency of the centers thus created or existing structures, this analysis suggests developing alert mechanisms based on pre-established intervention indicator